Around The Nation

Published 5:30 am, Saturday, October 16, 2004

CALIFORNIA

Test pilot killed as air show begins

SAN DIEGO - An aerobatic plane crashed in front of about 300 spectators during an air show at a Marine base Friday, killing a civilian test pilot. Sean deRosier, 31, was among the first performers to take to the air on the first day of the three-day Miramar Air Show. He took off in his single-engine plane — fitted with devices in the wingtips to produce extra smoke during stunts — and failed to pull out of a steep dive. "He started to pull the nose up, but he was too close to the ground and he just pancaked," witness Frank Rideg told KGTV. No one on the ground was hurt. DeRosier was taken by helicopter to a hospital, where he died.

VIRGINIA

Muslim activist gets 23 years in jail

ALEXANDRIA - A prominent Muslim activist who admitted participating in a Libyan plot to assassinate Saudi Arabia's crown prince was sentenced Friday to the maximum 23 years in prison for illegal business dealings with Libya. Abdurahman Alamoudi, 52, pleaded guilty in July to accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars from high-ranking Libyan officials while serving as a go-between for them and Saudi dissidents. While Alamoudi was not charged in connection with the alleged scheme to kill

N.Y. Times seeks lawsuit dismissal

ALEXANDRIA - The
New York Times
asked a federal judge Friday to dismiss a libel lawsuit against the paper, filed by a bioterrorism expert named by the FBI as a "person of interest" in the 2001 anthrax attacks. Times attorney

David Schulz
told the judge that no reasonable reader would walk away from the columns in question with the impression that the newspaper was accusing
Steven Hatfill
of any crimes. Hatfill's attorney,
Victor Glasberg
, said the suit should go forward because the columns clearly suggest that the reader conclude that his client "had a hand in what happened." U.S. District Judge Claude
M. Hilton
did not immediately rule on the motion.

MARYLAND

2nd guilty plea in prison abuse

HAGERSTOWN, MD. - An Army reservist charged with abusing Iraqis at the Abu Ghraib prison will plead guilty to four offenses Wednesday in Baghdad, his lawyer said Friday, making him the second soldier to plead guilty in the scandal. Staff Sgt.
Ivan L.
"Chip" Frederick, 38, will admit to assault, maltreating a detainee, committing an indecent act and dereliction of duty,
Gary Myers
said in a telephone interview from his home in New Hampshire. Eight other counts will be dropped, Myers said.

WYOMING

Judge reverses snowmobile ban

CHEYENNE - A federal judge Friday struck down a Clinton-era ban on snowmobiles in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks — a move expected to leave the parks open to the vehicles for at least the next three winters.

NORTH DAKOTA

Conditions mimic Lewis, Clark trip

MANDAN, N.D. - A group retracing the steps of explorers
Meriwether Lewis
and
William Clark
moved into North Dakota on Friday, finding the weather nearly as much of a challenge as the explorers faced 200 years ago. The group camped along the Missouri River with temperatures around 40 degrees and a brisk north wind that made it seem colder.
From wire reports